It's been 150 years since the end of slavery in this country, and the black race still lags literally every other large ethnic group in their collective success in our capitalistic system. This of course fuels the myriad of social and criminal justice system issues that the players are protesting. Liberal whites seem only too eager to accept responsibility for this, and conservative whites get tired of being blamed for all the perceived social ills in our country, and generally embrace the mantra of individual responsibility as the cure all. The loudest black voices are the ones given voice by the mainstream media, so most of us only hear the Sharptons and Jacksons who race to be first in line calling any and all black white tragedies the fault of whites. It's way past time to have real dialogue on white black relations in this country. If the objectionable disrespecting actions of our pro athletes and the asinine tweets of our narcissistic leader somehow bring this about, then we all win. Not holding my breath, but always hopeful.
What I generally love about sports is that it is a theatre in which we cast race and politics aside. I've coached far too many players from all races, political backgrounds and socìo-economic groups to paint people with a single brush. I've met too many good people from all walks to group people together. I pay attention to invidiuals. Not groups.
I'm sure everyone has their own anecdotal example of the story I'm about tell, but It's story like these that keep me fighting a day when people will stop pointing fingers.
In my second year coaching the high school level, we had a player transfer to our team. Excellent player, coming to a team of mostly middle class and lower middle class kids. The team composition was probably about 40 white kids, 5 black kids, 3 Arab kids and 2 Asian kids. I remember it being a really close team. The parents on the team were close. The kids rode shared too and from practice and the out of town kids often stayed at their friends (on the team) houses night before games, just be closer to the guys... Anyways, I don't disclose the name of the player who transferred into the program because he went on to start at the NCAA level for a fairly reputable program big time football fans on this board wpuldnknow who he is and I know he wouldn't want that.
That said, here is the story. He transferred to our program because he, his sister and his mom moved from another city. He was eligible to play right away because they had been abused by a step father and she essentially midnight moved them away from that setting to get away from him. The league would normally make him sit out as a transfer, but the coaches agreed that it was a special set of circumstances and they voted unanimously in favour to let him play immediately.
This kid happened to be black. They basically had nothing. They didn't bring any of their possessions, but they admittedly did not have much in the first place. They actually spent the first week here in a shelter, and she got two jobs (a coffee shop where she worked 6am-3pm and a restaurant where she served 4pm-9pm as a server) in order to get them a small place. They were very open about not having much, but they were proud people and weren't asking for any handouts. This kid participated in all of summer camp with us wearing terrible, old, ratty cleats and the same school issued workout clothes (from his previous school) every day. They couldn't afford anything new. He quickly fit in with out guys though and made friends. His mom could never come practice like the other parents because she was working, so somebody always made sure he had a ride home. His sister actually became our water girl just so she could get a ride home after practice too. As the season got closer, the mom talked to our head coach and asked if she could pay the fee to play ($300 per kid) in installment throughout the season. We were willing to wave the fee all together because of their situation, but she was determined to pay. The mom's on the team had a little council they used to fundraise for our team and they invited her to be a part of it, but because of her work schedule she had to decline. It was more important that she be there on Game Day (her lone day off each week) to support the team. The mom's wound up putting together $2500 for him going into the season. It was money for new cleats, some new swag that all the kids like to buy, lunch money when we were on the road and snack money for hotels, uniform money for schools (all our kids wore uniforms) etc, etc... They accepted the money, reluctantly, and nobody brought it up again. He was just another guy on the team and everyone treated him, his mom and his sister like part of the family.. He wound up being one of our two best players. We wound up losing a tough game in the provincial semi-final and he wound up getting a full ride.
Before that happened though, we had a post season meeting as a team (parents included) to talk about winter running and lifting and some other clerical issues. Half way through the meeting, about 25 pizzas show up, with salad, soft drinks and desert. We didn't order it. We were having an awards dinner for the team a couple weeks later... This family ordered it for the team. This normally quiet kid got up in front of the group and thanked everyone for the money they had given him and assured the people in the room that he had bought only what he needed for school, football and he had bought mom and sister a Christmas present. I remember he specifically stated that there had been $768 left of the money they had generously given him. He turned it into a team feast to thank everyone and told the group that it was probably the first time in his life he felt like he was part of something where he wasn't being judged... There is more to the story, but That's important stuff.
Those have been my experiences with race relations, so I tend to be less extreme in picking sides than others.
